


Amidst the Flames

by Ranger_Nova



Category: Babylon 5
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-30
Updated: 2013-06-30
Packaged: 2017-12-16 16:53:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/864350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ranger_Nova/pseuds/Ranger_Nova
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vir talks to Londo after Adira's death. Set during "Interludes and Examinations".</p>
            </blockquote>





	Amidst the Flames

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Amatara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amatara/gifts).



> Based on a prompt by Amatara.

After the medical team left, taking Adira’s body with them, Londo had broken down, resisting all Vir’s attempts to offer comfort. Vir let him grieve awhile, watching him as his body was wracked with sobs and wishing desperately there was something he could do to make it right. But there wasn’t - there never was. He seemed always to be caught in the middle of a dozen fires and powerless to put out a single flame.  
  
Eventually, he touched Londo’s arm and drew him away, half-leading, half-dragging him back to his quarters where he could grieve in solitude and retain some measure of dignity. He’d offered the ambassador some brivari, because gods knew, if anyone needed a drink right now it was Londo, but the man had turned it away. “There is too much to think about for me to cloud my mind with alcohol now, Vir," he’d snapped, his brow lowered.  
  
Vir frowned. A drunken Londo he could handle. A brooding, vengeful Londo was far more frightening. He brought some jala to him, slipping it into his friend’s shaking hands and taking care none spilt. “Londo," he breathed after a tense silence, “I’m… I’m just so sorry." The words felt hollow and meaningless. Nothing he said could bring Adira back to life. Nothing he did could take away the pain Londo was feeling. But he had to do _something_ , and words were all he could offer.  
  
"Refa." Londo spat out the word, as if it were something vile and foul-tasting. “This was his doing."  
  
Vir looked away, wondering. “Are you sure?"  
  
"Who else?"  
  
Vir said nothing.  
  
"I will make him pay." Clenching the cup so tightly Vir thought it would crack, Londo rose and began to pace across the room. “He could have come after me. Adira…" He seemed to choke on her name. “She was not part of this. She was innocent!"  
  
"Some people don’t care who they hurt, as long as they get what they want." Vir stared down at the floor. It always seemed to be the innocent who suffered.  
  
Londo nodded slowly. “He will see, though. He will see that he has made a grave error in taking the one precious thing I still had away from me."  
  
Looking up at him, feeling both tired and afraid, Vir asked, “What are you going to do?"  
  
"He killed her. Murdered her in cold blood. For that he must pay with his own life."  
  
"Londo…" Vir rose to face the ambassador. “Please. Let this stop… Before more people get hurt."  
  
"No." Londo’s hands tightened around the empty cup of jala he was still holding. “No! I… Great Maker, Vir, don’t you see? I was the one who asked her to come back. It is my fault she is dead." His shoulders sagged. “I owe it to her to strike down the one who did this."  
  
"That won’t bring her back." Refa was no friend of Vir’s, and in all honesty his death would come as a relief more than anything else, but an endless cycle of killing and revenge would accomplish nothing. There’d been enough death already.  
  
"Then what? You expect me to let Refa live while he has her blood on his hands? Do you?" Londo flung the cup across the room and it shattered against the door, the shards tinkling as they fell to the floor. “No. I should have killed him before. Gods, I had the chance." Vir felt his throat tighten as he stared into Londo’s empty eyes. “I poisoned his drink as a warning. If I had wished it, I could have killed him. Now I wonder why I did not."  
  
Reaching out, Vir gently placed his hand on Londo’s arm. “You couldn’t have known…"  
  
"But I do now." Londo’s voice was grim. “Vir, Mr. Morden is on Babylon 5." Vir suppressed a shiver, uncomfortably aware of that fact. “I need you to go to him."  
  
 _Gods, no._ “Londo…"  
  
"Now, Vir." There was no room for argument, Vir could see that. “Tell him I wish to speak with him."  
  
Vir left the room with a heavy heart, his steps slow and tired. _I tried_ , he thought miserably. _I tried to make him change his mind._ But it wasn’t enough. It was never enough.  
  
In the corridor he passed a man delivering the medical report Dr. Hobbs had promised. A brief flicker of hope rose within him, but when he asked what the cause of death was, it fell just as quickly. Londo was right - Adira had indeed been poisoned.  
  
Vir continued walking, his soul weary. More fires would soon be starting around him, and still he remained unable to put out the flames.


End file.
